What is Questioning the Author?
Questioning the Author (QtA) is an comprehension approach which focuses on the importance of students' active efforts to build meaning from what they read and the need for students to grapple with ideas in text (Beck & McKeown, 2006). Questioning the Author is developed through four important features: 1) viewing the text as a fallible product written by fallible authors, 2) dealing with the text though questions that are directed toward making sense of it, 3) questioning as students are reading, and 4) encouraging student collaboration in construction of meaning (Liang & Dole, 2006). QtA uses teacher posed Queries and student responses to keep the discussion flowing productively(Beck & McKeown, 2002). These Queries, general probes used to encourage readers to take notice of a text, help readers develop ideas and consider meaning. This strategy can be used in grades K-12 for both nonfiction and fiction texts.
Examples of Queries:
"So, what is the author trying to tell us?"
"Why is the author telling us that now?"
"Did the author explain this clearly?"
"Does this make sense with what the author told us before?"
"How does this connect with what the author has told us?"
The focus of Queries is on building understanding not on checking understanding.
Learn more about Queries here:
Questioning the Author (QtA) is an comprehension approach which focuses on the importance of students' active efforts to build meaning from what they read and the need for students to grapple with ideas in text (Beck & McKeown, 2006). Questioning the Author is developed through four important features: 1) viewing the text as a fallible product written by fallible authors, 2) dealing with the text though questions that are directed toward making sense of it, 3) questioning as students are reading, and 4) encouraging student collaboration in construction of meaning (Liang & Dole, 2006). QtA uses teacher posed Queries and student responses to keep the discussion flowing productively(Beck & McKeown, 2002). These Queries, general probes used to encourage readers to take notice of a text, help readers develop ideas and consider meaning. This strategy can be used in grades K-12 for both nonfiction and fiction texts.
Examples of Queries:
"So, what is the author trying to tell us?"
"Why is the author telling us that now?"
"Did the author explain this clearly?"
"Does this make sense with what the author told us before?"
"How does this connect with what the author has told us?"
The focus of Queries is on building understanding not on checking understanding.
Learn more about Queries here:
Building an understanding is not the same as extracting information from the page.
-Isabel L. Beck and Margaret G. Mckeown
See an example of QtA here:
Information Retrieved from:
Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G. (2006). Improving comprehension with question the author: A fresh and expanded view of a powerful approach. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.
Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G. (2002). Questioning the author: Making sense of social studies. Educational Leadership. November 2002, 45-47
Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G. (2006). Improving comprehension with question the author: A fresh and expanded view of a powerful approach. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.
Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G. (2002). Questioning the author: Making sense of social studies. Educational Leadership. November 2002, 45-47